A love story between a Tayibe resident and a Moroccan citizen has hit the Interior Ministry walls. The lovers married a year and a half ago, and their appeal for an entry visa filed for the woman six months ago is yet to be issued. The couple is forced to “lead” their family life mostly over the computer screen.
Rafat Haj Yihyeh met Fauziah Latiff through mutual friends during his trip abroad. Love blossomed between the two, even though the two have been separated by the Mediterranean Sea. After numerous visits to Morocco, the two decided to marry.
Six months after their engagement, Yihyeh approached the Interior Ministry in Israel ,asking to issue an entry visa for his fiancé. According to Yihyeh, the ministry has been dragging its feet in the past two years, making his wedding celebration in Israel impossible thus far.
Yihyeh approached The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and told them about the case. “He’s asked for more and more documents each time – Fauziah’s and her family’s birth certificates, hers and four of her friend’s pay slips, phone numbers of relatives who are not family members, information about her workplace and more,” said Aleef Sabag, Public Hotline Coordinator (Haifa) and Field Worker for ACRI.
Yihyeh has kept in touch with the Interior Ministry in Netanya to check on the progress of his matter. He was recently told that Fauziah had passed her security inspection with flying colors. Yihyeh was certain this marked the end of the affair, but when he called the office a few days later, the clerk told him that she couldn’t get a hold of the main Jerusalem office, and told him: “Why didn’t you marry a woman with a European passport?”
According to Israeli law, an Israeli’s spouse who is a non-citizen is entitled to live with her husband in Israel. She must first obtain temporary entry and work visas and after a certain period of joined living may be entitled to an Israeli citizenship. “Instead of operating according to law and serve the average citizen efficiently, the Interior Ministry decided to carry on a bureaucratic war of attrition with a clear racial overtone,” Sabag said.
'This is my home'
Last week, Yihyeh flew to Morocco to see his wife. “Fauziah has already given up, but I encourage her and explain to her that this is my home. I have a job here, and this is where I want to build my life and raise our children. I don’t understand how a law-abiding state claiming to be democratic handles its citizens,” Yihyeh said.
The Ministry of Interior said in response: “Rafat Haj Yihyeh initially submitted a request of invitation for his partner. Only a year later, he asked to have his spouse enter. Requests to have partners enter are individually inspected, during which the applicant is called for a hearing to examine the sincerity of the relationship. If the need arises, security officials are also asked to express their opinion.
“In this case, Yihyeh was summoned for a hearing as customary while the sources were simultaneously asked for their stance. This process takes some time.” The ministry claimed Haj Yihyeh displayed disorderly and blunt conduct towards the ministry’s personnel was during both hearings, “including harsh language, insults, claimed to be a member of Fatah..”
Since his last meeting a month and a half ago, in which Yihyeh decided to tear his invitation and cancel the meeting, he has not returned to the ministry’s bureau. The ministry claimed it will resume the handling of his case whenever Yihyeh decides to revisit its offices.
The ACRI responded to the ministry’s claims, saying “he (Yihyeh) kept getting a message that ‘we are waiting for an answer from the relevant sources’ each time he filed a request. Who are those relevant sources? As far as they are concerned, Yihyeh is just another name on the list.”
Sabag confirmed that Yihyeh yelled at the ministry’s workers, “but he did it because they exasperated him.”
The matter has been transferred to the care of a private lawyer who will petition the High Court of Justice.